Roosevelt Homes Of The Hudson Valley

Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family may be most remembered for their time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but it was the Hudson Valley they called home. In Manhattan, the president's mother built a townhome on East Sixty-Fifth Street, and Eleanor was bo

Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family may be most remembered for their time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but it was the Hudson Valley they called home. In Manhattan, the president's mother built a townhome on East Sixty-Fifth Street, and Eleanor was born on East Thirty-Seventh. On the banks of the Hudson River, Hyde Park was Franklin's birthplace and where he entertained some of the most important leaders of the twentieth century. Up the Albany Post Road, several homes of family and friends played important moments in history. Laura Delano's Tudor-style house was where FDR met with Churchill, and the beautiful Wilderstein was home to Daisy Suckley, a devoted confidante. In Albany as governor, FDR installed a therapy pool in a converted outdoor greenhouse to assist his physical challenges in the Executive Mansion. Historian Shannon Butler traces the historic homes that shaped the Roosevelt family in the Hudson Valley.

A captivating biography of two famous women whose sons, Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt, would change the course of the 20th century—by award-winning historian Charlotte Gray. Born into upper class America in the same year, 1854, Sara Delano and Jennie Jerome refused to settle into predictable, sheltered lives as little-known wives to prominent men. Instead, both women concentrated their energies on enabling their sons to reach the epicentre of political power on two continents. In the mid-19th century, the British Empire was at its height, France’s Second Empire flourished and the industrial vigour of the USA was catapulting the republic towards the Gilded Age. Sara and Jennie, raised with privilege but subject to the constraints of women’s roles at the time, learned how to take control of their destinies, Sara in the prosperous Hudson Valley and Jennie in the glittering world of Imperial London. Yet their personalities and choices were dramatically different. A vivacious extrovert, Jennie married Lord Randolph Churchill, rising politician and scion of a noble British family. Her deft social and political manoeuvrings helped not only her mercurial husband but, once she was widowed, her ambitious son, Winston. By contrast, deeply conventional Sara Delano married a man as old as her father. But once widowed, she made Franklin, her only child, the focus of her existence. Thanks in large part to her financial support and to her guidance, Franklin acquired the skills he needed to become a successful politician. Set against one hundred years of history, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons is a study in loyalty and resilience. Gray argues that Jennie and Sara are too often presented as lesser figures rather than two remarkable individuals who were key in shaping the characters of the sons who adored them, and preparing them for leadership on the world stage. A masterful biographer and acclaimed historian, Charlotte Gray breathes new life into Sara and Jennie. Impeccably researched and filled with intriguing social insights, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons offers a fascinating and fulsome portrait of how leaders are not just born but made.

Many have attempted to define and describe Franklin D. Roosevelt. Any understanding of the enigma that was F.D.R. must examine the roots that were so firmly established in the Delano and Roosevelt families, and in the rural nature of the mid-Hudson Valley and Dutchess County of the 19th century. The complexity of the man and the myth must be seen in relationship to the time, the place and the people who provided his roots – roots that could withstand the political storms of the 20th century. F.D.R.’s relationship to the world of the Hudson Valley and Dutchess County has often been ignored in favor of the more inclusive global frame of reference. This book examines the relationship of F.D.R. to the residents of the Hudson Valley to explain the significance of that relationship to the private and public life of F.D.R. In this study the term “neighbor” refers to the aristocracy who lived in the estates on the East Bank of the Hudson, the citizens of Hyde Park, and the citizens of Dutchess County. From his first campaign in 1910 to his tragic death in 1945 he carried a perception of his “neighbors” that had a profound effect on his “politics.”

This gorgeous oversized tome features thirty-six sublime country homes, many overlooking the Hudson River. This scenic stretch of estates along the Hudson offers some of the finest examples of American architecture and landscape design. The edition's thirty-five featured homes were designed in a range of styles by notable architects Stanford White, A. J. Davis, Calvert Vaux, Warren and Wetmore, and more. All pair exquisite interiors with expansive lush lawns and riverfront views. Formerly country homes for eighteenth-century landed gentry and nineteenth-century industrialists--Astors, Chanlers, Chapmans, Delanos, Roosevelts--they include Dutch colonial cottages and grand Gothic Revival, Federal, Georgian, and Beaux-Arts residences. Constructed on land owned by the influential Livingston family, who settled in the area in the late seventeenth century, many have been restored to their former splendor by the original owners' descendants as well as recent leaders of New York City industry and the arts, including Richard Jenrette and Brice Marden.

Eleanor Roosevelt's character was shaped by the history and culture of the Hudson Valley. More than that, Eleanor Roosevelt loved the Hudson Valley. A woman who knew and cared for the whole world chose this place, Val-Kill, as her home in a cottage by a stream. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Hudson Valley Remembrance reflects her unaffected simplicity and caring interest in her neighbors' concerns. Remembered by friends, colleagues, neighbors, and young people, these qualities inspired a community-based group to lead efforts to save her home in 1977 as the country's first national historic site dedicated to a First Lady. The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill continues her work on issues that affect life today.